Panthers: Coaches want Newton to make easier reads
The Carolina Panthers want to make life easier for Cam Newton….
More and more each day, we get a sense of how the Carolina Panthers offense is going to operate in the 2018 season.
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Sunday, Steven Taranto of 247Sports wrote a piece detailing how the team wants quarterback Cam Newton to operate. Quarterbacks coach Scott Turner told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer in his Monday Morning Quarterback column last week that they want Newton to make the more easy throws.
More specifically, they want the former Auburn star to take the checkdown read when there is nothing open on a big play.
"“With him, on every play, we want to make sure he has a plan and he’s following that plan,” said the younger of the Turners. “And to know checking down is OK. A lot of Cam’s issues have come because he’s so talented that he thinks he can make every play work. And sometimes, it’s just not there, so you check down and go to the next play. By holding the ball, sometimes he takes hits or falls into negative plays.“Making decisions quick, getting the ball out of his hand, that’s where, when he improves, the consistency will come. We’re not trying to make him anything he’s not. We want him to be the best version of himself.”"
Although this may sound like a relatively easy concept, finding a checkdown read is not as simple as it sounds. The good news for both the Panthers and Newton is that they have new weapons to make those checkcdown reads. Much has been made about the overhaul of the receiver group over the course of the offseason. The new acquisitions will certainly able to make a difference in that regard.
Turner’s thoughts correlate with what has been said throughout the course of the offseason. There has been talk that the Carolina Panthers offense will be both a vertical threat and force Newton to think quicker. If anything, the struggle here will be keeping Newton in the pocket in certain situations.
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It will be interesting to see how the Carolina Panthers work with Newton throughout the course of training camp. This will be slightly different than what he is used to, but I think it will be a welcome change. Getting him to cut down on unnecessary mistakes and making quicker decisions should be a focus for the offense moving forward. It’s a lot easier said than done, but it is important for the betterment of the team in the long run.